


unlikely friends

by the_birdie



Series: romekao fun time [1]
Category: Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey, จูบให้ได้ถ้านายแน่จริง เร็วๆนี้ | Kiss Me Again: The Series (TV), รุ่นพี่ Secret Love | Senior Secret Love (TV)
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-15 02:52:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18065198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_birdie/pseuds/the_birdie
Summary: Rome and Kao were a lot more similar than they could have ever imagined. They were both sweet, adorable, and dating complete idiots. When their boyfriends are both late for their respective anniversary dinners, they finally meet. And it's the start to a beautiful friendship.





	1. Chapter 1

Kao pressed the home button on his phone, hoping to find a LINE message, a missed call, _something_ staring back at him. But all he was met with was the time. _8:13._ He and Pete had agreed to meet for dinner at 7:30. Now nearly forty-five minutes later, he was still nowhere to be seen.

He had a sneaking suspicion that the waitresses were taking pity on him, because they kept bringing him a variety of side dishes with a sympathetic smile on their faces. And while he willingly munched on them, he didn’t appreciate how much worse they were making him feel. He never claimed that his boyfriend was perfect, but he had never pulled something quite like this before. He tried to convince himself that he must have had good reason, that he’d explain himself when he finally got to the restaurant, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

He’d resorted to people watching, because there was nothing else for him to do. And maybe he was hoping to find someone having a worse night than him. Just maybe. But to his disappointment, all he found were couples, all completely engrossed with each other. They were laughing and smiling and making ridiculous goo-goo eyes at each other, and while he knew that he did that with Pete all the time, it disgusted him. How dare people have the audacity to be in love when his boyfriend was being an ass.

Eyes continuing to drift about the restaurant, they stopped on a boy that was around his age (or possibly younger, by the way he looked) sitting alone and scrolling through his phone. His brow was furrowed, lips pulled into an unhappy purse. When Kao took a better look at the table, he noticed how it was set for two people. Huh.

The boy glanced up at him, face settling into a smile. Kao tried to play it off as though he was day dreaming, but the boy caught onto him pretty quickly. “Did your date stand you up too?”

And damn, he was _blunt._ Taken aback, words stinging his heart, he tried to sputter out some excuse before he gave up. Shoulders sagging, he sighed, “Is it that obvious?”

“You look like a kicked puppy. And you’re staring at that empty plate like it killed your family.” He jerked his chin in the direction of where Pete was meant to be sitting. “That can only mean boyfriend trouble.” Patting his own table, he said, “Want to come sit with me? We’ll look way less pathetic that way.”

Kao wasn’t naturally ambitious, especially with strangers. But his boyfriend had left him alone for almost an hour now, and he really had nothing left to lose. And this would be far less embarrassing. Grabbing his phone, he sat in the chair opposite of the boy. “My name is Kao.”

“Rome.” Holding up his water glass, he said, “To having stupid boyfriends.” Clinking his glass to Kao’s, he took a sip, continuing to eye him over the rim. Kao was still staring hopefully at his phone, attempting to will it to light up with a notification. Rome reached across to pinch his cheek, giggling at the surprised look Kao gave him. “That’s a pretty big pout you have. What are you here for? Birthday? Anniversary? About to propose?”

What the _fuck?_ How did he even …

Kao pushed Rome’s hand away, rubbing at his cheek. “Anniversary,” he replied glumly. _Five years_ he and Pete had been together, and the idiot couldn’t even be bothered to show up to their date.

Rome smiled understandingly. “Same here. P’Pick was supposed to get off of work at seven, but now he’s an hour and a half late. Must of,” Rome raised his fingers, bending them sarcastically, “ _lost track of time,_ ya know?”

“Pete said he’d text me when he left the office, but when I tried to call him, it went right to voicemail.”

Rome whistled, sitting back in his chair. “I never thought there was someone out there as stupid as P’Pick.”

“You don’t even know the _half_ of it.”

…

“Wait, wait, wait.” Rome waved his hands in front of him, cutting Kao’s story off. “He tried to tell you that you two didn’t kiss when your _lips touched_? Does he know what a kiss _is_?” 

“Pete is … special, okay? He can be sort of dense, but he means well. When he’s not fucking things up.”

“That’s just code for _he’s good in bed._ ”

“Those words never left my mouth,” Kao said, taking a bite of the food he had finally ended up ordering. “And you’re one to talk! You said that P’Pick almost cut off your foot!”

“It was a _prank._ ”

“He had a knife ready! Who _does_ that? He’s a sadist.”

“You and your boyfriend punched each other _multiple times_ , who’s the real sadist here?”

“They were just _love taps_ –”

“Kao!”

Pete approached the table, out of breath with his hands on his knees. Kao just stared at him as he situated himself, lips downturned. Two and a half hours too late, nearing three, and his boyfriend had finally decided to grace him with his presence. How kind of him.

Standing up straight, he took Kao’s hands in his and began spewing out the apology he had undoubtedly been rehearsing the entire way to the restaurant. “I’m _so sorry._ I swear, I didn’t mean to be late. My phone died after work, and I wasn’t able to charge it until just now–”

Rome, who had been eyeing Pete up and down since he’d reached the table, crossed one leg over the other. Unimpressed, he hummed, “I don’t see the big deal, Kao. You could do _so_ much better.”

Finally noticing that there was a third party, Pete looked to Rome, expression confused and irritated. “Who are you?”

“The guy who’s been keeping your boyfriend company for the past hour and a half. He’s told me all about you, and I honestly don’t understand the appeal.”

“What … who the hell are you to tell Kao who he should be with?”

Cutting off whatever altercation that was about to happen, Kao stood up, taking his hands back for himself and curling them into fists. “I really don’t want to hear your excuses, Pete. You really, _really_ upset me.”

“Baby, please. Just let me explain. San was helping me–”

“You better choose your next words _very_ carefully if you still want to be able to talk after,” Kao growled. He was long past the jealousy he had felt for Sandee back in college, but he was already teetering on a sharp edge. “I don’t care what you were doing. You were supposed to be _here,_ on our date. It’s our _anniversary,_ in case you’ve forgotten.”

“I didn’t forget!”

“That’s really hard to believe.” Reaching into his wallet, he pulled out a couple of bahts and threw them onto the table. It was nearing ten o’clock, and he just wanted to go home, curl up in bed, and pretend the day had never happened. Kao slipped his phone into his pocket and looked to Rome. “I’ll LINE you later.” Rome only nodded, wide smile on his face. Ready to leave, Kao turned in the direction of the door only to be met with another boy racing to the table. Kao brushed past him easily, but not without commenting, “You should really have higher standards, Rome.” Kao heard the exchange behind him but ignored it.

(“What the fuck? Who is that?”

“You shouldn’t be the one asking questions, P’Pick.”

“Rome, I can explain–”)

Pete was chasing after him, shouting excuses and apologies, but he tuned them out. There was a carton of double chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer with his name on it waiting for him at home. And after the day he had had, he was fully prepared to eat the entire thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pete and Pick do their bests to redeem themselves.

When Kao fished his keys out of his back pocket, he was fully prepared to stomp straight to the kitchen, get his ice cream, and hole up in his bed for the remainder of the evening. But when he got the door open, all of his plans were cancelled.

The kitchen table had been draped in a white table cloth, topped with two lit candlesticks and a vase of fully bloomed roses. Filled champagne glasses were in front of either chair with a plate of assorted chocolate strawberries in the center.

All of the anger and resentment he felt was immediately wiped away. Because deep down, Kao lived for cliché, romantic gestures, and Pete was oddly good at them. It wasn’t until Kao, he had claimed, that he had ever wanted to do them, and he hadn’t been sure if he’d get them right. And now they were here in front of this absolutely picturesque scene. The candles, the roses, the strawberries for the sweet tooth Pete knew he had. He’d thought of everything.

The door closed behind him, and the sound of footsteps grew closer. Arms wrapping around his waist, the soft whisper of “Happy anniversary, Kao” floated into his ear. It took all of his self-control to not slap him and kiss him at the same time. Pete had proven himself over the years to show Kao just how serious he was. There was no more messaging random girls, no more flirting when they went out to the bars with their friends. He did everything to show that he was committed to him and only him. But this was on an entirely new level that he didn’t think Pete would ever go to. Not to say that it wasn’t appreciated; those strawberries looked _delicious._

He turned around to face him. Pete looked as worried as he probably felt, if the way he was eyeing the floor and biting his lip was any indication. It made Kao smile, his own arms coming up to wrap around his neck. “You were still two and half hours late to our dinner,” he reminded him.

Pete ducked his head a bit. “I know,” he whispered.

“You should have charged your phone and answered my calls.”

“I know.”

“You really sucked today.”

“ _I know,_ Kao,” he groaned, letting his forehead fall onto his shoulder. “I wanted to surprise you with this, so I got Sandee to come over to help me set it all up. It took longer than we thought, and when I finally checked the time, it was half past nine.” He nuzzled underneath his jaw, his hair tickling Kao’s chin. “I’m really sorry.”

It was so sweet, so unlike the Pete that he’d met in high school, the one that beat people up left and right. And even though technically, Kao still had every right to be mad at him, he was far too overcome with love to be. “This doesn’t seem like it would take two hours to set up,” he pointed out.

“This is only part of it.” Lifting his head, he smirked at him. “You haven’t seen the bedroom yet.”

Kao raised a curious eyebrow. “Oh? Then what are we waiting for?” He didn’t expect the quick kiss that was pressed to his cheek, and he definitely didn’t expect to be thrown over his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Pete! Put me down!”

“A prince like you should never have to walk anywhere.”     

“I _hate_ you _so much,_ oh my god. At least blow out the candles first! You’re going to start a fire in the house!”

…

Rome hadn’t wanted to talk about last night when they’d gotten home. He’d responded to all of Pick’s ‘I’m sorrys’ with ‘I knows’ and left it at that. He had left an unusual gap between them when they had gotten into bed and didn’t even bother his boyfriend for his goodnight kiss. He was too upset to do anything but sag against the pillows and try his best to not cry. He knew that Pick wasn’t the most open and honest guy in the world, but he still cared about Rome. He never expected him to hurt him so much, not after everything that they’d gone through in college.

When his alarm went off the next morning, it was a struggle to get out bed. He’d had a difficult time getting to sleep, and he just wanted to hide under his covers for the entire day. But the rest of the world didn’t stop just because he was having relationship issues. So he forced himself to get ready.        

The odd thing was that Pick wasn’t in bed next to him when he woke up. Usually he was the first one awake, but maybe he was just trying to avoid the inevitable conversation they were going to have to have. It wasn’t as if Rome was any less guilty in that aspect anyway.

Taking longer than usual to get ready to avoid having to go downstairs, he finally had to face the fact that if he didn’t leave the bedroom soon, he wouldn’t have time for breakfast. And no matter how mad he was, he wasn’t about to go to work on an empty stomach.

He was expecting to find Pick making his coffee or already eating, but what he didn’t expect _whatsoever_ was to find the table completely set, assortments of food piled high. There were even _daisies_ in the center, matching the sun that was pooling in from the patio door perfectly. Pick, adorned in an apron, was at the stove, frying some eggs. When he turned back to plate them, he nearly dropped the pan when he noticed Rome watching him from the stairs. “Give a guy a heart attack, why don’t you. After he practically cooked you a feast.”

Making the rest of the descent, Rome took a better look at the table. Now that he was closer, he realized that it wasn’t just food Pick had made; they were all of his _favorite_ foods. He even noticed a bowl of his favorite patongo from the shop down the street. This was the grandest gesture Pick had ever made for him.

“Well, sit down,” Pick said, taking off his oven mitts and pulling out a chair. Rome could only stare at him in disbelief before he took the offering.

“What are you even still doing here? It’s,” he looked to the clock, eyes widening, “quarter to eight! You’re going to be late if you don’t leave right now!”

“Relax, would you?” Pick began spooning food onto his plate. “I called into work today. Took the day off.”

“What? Why? They need you there.”

“No they don’t.” Dropping his hands into his lap, he looked away from Rome as he explained, “I was working overtime last night. So that I could do,” he motioned over the table, “this today. But I guess I hadn’t realized just how ‘overtime’ I had gone.”

His boyfriend was still so shy, even after all these years. Rome really had to stop doubting him so much, even if he did tend to fuck up from time to time. He supposed he could deal with that if Pick had to deal with how clingy he could be.

Taking a sip of his coffee – perfectly sweetened the way he liked it – he smiled. “You know, you’re really sweet sometimes.”

“Of course I am.” He coughed into his hand, taking some food for himself. “It’s just only for you.”

Rome hummed happily, raising his mug, instructing Pick to follow. “Happy anniversary, P’Pick.”

“Happy anniversary, Rome.” _Clink, sip._

“Even if you are a day late.”

“Watch your mouth, you little shit, or you can _starve._ ”

...

**Bonus:**

**kao:** if pete fucks up again i don’t think i’d be too upset

 **kao:** two rounds of sex. plus a bubble bath. redemption is so sweet.

 **rome:** i don’t think i’ve ever gotten a better blowjob in my life. and he COOKED.

 **rome:** i didn’t even know p pick could cook

 **kao:** best anniversary ever

 **rome:** amen.

**Author's Note:**

> i can't bring myself to ever write something without a happy ending. so pick and pete will redeem themselves in chapter two~


End file.
